Nics in the pink as Bendtner and Anelka turn Battle of the Bridge into Battle of the Barbie boots

The battle at The Bridge on Sunday afternoon is set to turn into the battle of Barbie Boots as Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner and Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka square off in their new bright pink boots.

Gunners striker Bendtner paraded his posh pink apparel and celebrated with the winning goal against Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday as Arsene Wenger's men booked their place in the Champions League knockout stages.

But now the the dashing Dane will clash - in more ways than one - when he faces Anelka, as Premier League leaders Chelsea face fifth-placed Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea's swanky striker reckons fushia is too bright for coloured boots, since he favours a rose-coloured pair.

The natty Nics are signed to rival boot manufacturers, who hope that the soccer studs will persuade Christmas shoppers to put their best foot forward.

Bendtner's bubble-gum coloured boots are are made by Nike and called Mercurial Vapor Rosas.

Prior to Bendtner sporting them, Bayern Munich and France playmaker Franck Ribéry 'starred' in a promotional video, fittingly backed by music from the Pink Panther.

Anelka, currently top scorer in the Premier League, is also in the Pink thanks to Puma, who provided him with a new pair of baby pink boots and have produced a spoof promotional video, showing the striker being held hostage by a rather glamorous French kidnapper warning Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe that his top scorer will not be released for action unless he is permitted to wear the new pink boots.

Bendtner reckons he looks pretty in pink. He told The Sun: 'I love my pink boots. I’ve wanted to play in that colour ever since I was young.

'I’ve never seen anyone else playing in pink boots before. I think it’s an outstanding colour and looks amazing.

'But I don’t think anyone at Arsenal is going to be able to compete with me on that front. I have reached the top of the outstanding boots.

'The only way they can beat me now is to play in diamond-encrusted boots. And I don’t think that’s going to happen for a few years.'

But fancy Frenchman Anelka is hot on his heels. He he wore his fashionable footwear against Bordeaux in Chelsea's Champions League clash on Wednesday.

With an advertising budget of $1.7 billion-per-year, Nike spend around $476 million of that paying sports' stars to advertise and wear their gear.

With Adidas creating their range of F50 football boots in various colours, Nike have tried to take the genre one step further, but the move may not be popular.

Some clubs around Europe are insisting that all their players below first team level return to wearing only the traditional black boots and are asking their stars to do the same.

Pinky is not always perky, it seems.

Source: dailymail.co.uk